Life or Death
by Amira Tamran
Summary: Annabeth leaves Camp Half-Blood. New friends, and new enemies. New fights, and new weapons. Rated T for mild violence.
1. The Battle in the Cave

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Annabeth, but I made Chione. Stealers shall be tied to high chairs and fed dogfood!

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Annabeth closed her eyes. Her senses were telling her everything was just silent, cold, stone. This cave was innaccessible from anyone but those with god blood and monsters.

But something was there.

She began to feel light headed, so she breathed in, absolutely silent. Letting the air fall into her throat. It tasted foul and dead.

A full minute passed, she counted the seconds.

She began to slowly let out the breath, silently, letting the air fall out of her throat. She opened her eyes again.

In the blackness of her closed eyelids, she waited.

Stillness. Silence.

In her mind, she heard Chione from next to her. Her mind sounded hesitant.

_Annabeth..._

_No Chi, not yet._

_Annabeth, I sense them._

_As do I. No Chi._

They both lay still against the rock. Annabeth could sense Chiones annoyance and impatiance. A drop of water fell from a stalactite above.

_Chi, in ten, you know what to do._

Chione did nothing. Like Annabeth, she was staying totally silent. But Annabeth knew she heard.

Annabeth held her eyes open. She needed to see this.

There was a small rustle of Chione fingering her handgun in her black leather holster. Annabeth's muscles tightened. Her hands coiled into fists and her veins pumped harder.

Again, silence.

Both Annabeth and Chione sprang up, hurling small pebbles away from their feet. In unison, the two girls jumped to the other side of the very rock they had been hiding behind.

Another half-blood grinned evily at them. His teeth looked white and healthy, but his eyes were blood shot and maniacal. They glinted in the moonlight. Ick.

"Hello ladies," he hissed. "Care to join me for tea?"

Annabeth made a face and sent a quick round house kick to his head. There was a sharp crack, and the surprised youth's head twisted, neck broken, and fell hard against the cold stone. The stench of warm blood filled the air.

Instantly, cries of battle came from deeper into the tunnel. Half-bloods and others came running with weapons. Chione and Annabeth shot glances, then sprang into the action.

A girl only about nine sprang at Annabeth, causing her to dodge to the side. Annabeth sent a quick uppercut to her chin. The girl flew in the air, then crashed on the ground. Scrambling up, bloodlust in her eyes, she ran at Annabeth. Annabeth easily dodged the angy punch, grabbed the girls outstretched arm, and attempted to send the girl flying once more.

But the girl held strong, barely budging, and Annabeth was thrown off. Skidding on the rocks, Annabeth's eyes widened slightly.

"The Nemean Lion's human daugher..."

The girl's golden mane of hair shown. She nodded, so Annabeth kneed her in the stomach and heard ribs break.

The girl coughed up blood and fell to the ground. Annabeth hit a few pressure points in the neck and the girl was paralyzed.

"Ha!" Annabeth laughed. "See Greek weapons do that!"

She turned around in search of Chione, throwing off attackers in her wake.

There she was, wrestling with a fiery red-head. Annabeth came up behind and did a quick chop the the neck. The attacker collapsed to the floor. Annabeth pulled Chione behind a rock to hide.

Chione looked up at Annabeth, annoyed at not getting to finish her fight. Annabeth explained.

"Chi, we need to get out of here, save our energy, you know."

Chione sighed, but pulled her handgun out of her holster.

"On three!" Annabeth shouted above the noise of their searching enemies.

"One..." Chione pointed her gun at the ceiling.

"Two..." Annabeth took carefull aim, one stalactite in particular looked vulnerable, slightly cracked.

"THREE!"

There was a huge crash as their bullets hit the cave ceiling, and rocks began plummeting down further in. Shouts and screams came from around them. If they had looked back, they would have seen a huge shadow rise up, only to be hit down again by a falling boulder. His voice rang menacingly through the cave.

"We shall conquer the Gods! You will be the first to die!"

But Annabeth and Chione were already gone. They had escaped the cave before their bullets had even hit the rocks.

"MIAH!" They both yelled, and Annabeth shot up like a rocket on Hermes' winged sandels, Chione being pulled along behind.

The sound of the cave crumbling behind them faded into oblivion as they flew into the sky. The screams of the monsters followers died away.

Annabeth smiled, and looked down at Chione. The wind made her squint.

They landed on the soft forest floor, and slapped high fives.

"Camp Half-Blood would _never_ have let us do that."

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	2. Back At Camp

Disclaimer: Basically same that I said last chapter. I found the name Chione from an archive of Greek names. Chione meant "Snow Queen" so I assumed she wasn't in any myths. Whoops. Thanks to Gummy Bear with Attitude for clueing me in on this!

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She was back at Camp Half-Blood. The mess hall was warm and noisy with the usual dinner chaos.

Her plate was filled to the brim with a huge steak and colorful vegetables. After sacrificing a cooked brocoli, she dug into her food.

"Annabeth!"

Annabeth looked up from her plate to see Chiron appearing out of the crowd.

"Glad to see you back!" He said, waved to her, and passed by.

Annabeth looked confused at his retreating figure. Back? She was always here.

"Annabeth!"

Thalia came walking toward the table. Forgetting about Chiron, Annabeth smiled at her usual punk costume.

"Where you been? We've missed you!" Thalia punched Annabeth on the shoulder playfully, then continued on before Annabeth could open her mouth to say anything.

Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed. She had never left.

"Annabeth!"

Silena of the Aphrodite cabin came through the crowd, flipped her hair and spoke to Annabeth.

"Capture the flag's sucked without you. The Ares cabin has won every time. I mean, Aphrodite's cabin has actually had to start playing! We're all happy your back."

Annabeth stared, dumbstruck. Silena flashed a little perky smile, and then strutted toward her own table. Annabeth watched her, wide eyed.

Throughout the rest of dinner, figures from all cabins, even Ares, came to Annabeth to tell her how glad they were that she had returned. Then they would leave before Annabeth could start to protest that she had never left the valley.

Finally, when Annabeth was just taking the very last bites of her steak, a very familiar figure came toward her.

"Annabeth!"

Again forgetting about her confusion, she saw Luke parting the crowd. His handsome face glowing. Annabeth grinned, totally forgetting any self-conciousness.

"Luke!" Annabeth cut in before he could say anything, all suspicions forgotten. "What are you doing here?"

He sat down, making Annabeth's hand knock against her goblet. Luke caught it just before it could fall. Annabeth felt her face turn bright red. Luke put the goblet back, out of easy reach of Annabeth.

"To see you of course. I heard you came back!"

Annabeth stopped smiling. Looking serious, she spoke to Luke, making her voice put meaning into her words.

"Luke... I was never gone. All night everyone's been telling me that I've been away, but I haven't."

Luke stared at her, then let out a blood curdling scream. He got up from the table and started screaming louder.

Everyone who hadn't already left the mess hall turned their heads to look at Annabeth and Luke.

"Luke!"

Annabeth practically leapt over the table to the other side, sending goblets and silverware crashing to the floor. Luke kept screaming and began to writhe while standing, like he was having a seizure.

"Luke!" Annabeth cried. It was all that she could make out. "Luke!"

Campers and counselors began rushing toward them, but no one came to close. A ring of people surrounded the two.

Annabeth attempted to grab onto Luke, but he threw her off. Annabeth tried again, but Luke's flailing arms slapped her away.

Annabeth looked at the other campers, but no one came to help her. In a desperate move, Annabeth seized a goblet from the table and splashed it's contents on Luke.

The water hit him straight in the face, and he calmed instantly. He turned to stare directly at Annabeth. His eyes had grown tired and dark circles had appeared.

He closed his eyes, and began to morph. He grew shorter, just a little shorter than Annabeth, his face grew younger looking, and his hair grew darker.

Darker, except a small grey streak.

He had morphed to Percy Jackson.

Annabeth's eyes shot open. She was breathing hard, and her heart hurt as it pumped like crazy. Warm sweat beaded her face, and her pillow and blond hair were cold and wet.

She sat up. She was lying on the dirt under a tree. Chione beside her was sleeping, propped up against the trunk. An owl, the symbol of Athena, flew up above them.

It had all been a dream.

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